Embassy official indicted in connection with sexual molestation

An official at the U.S. embassy in Kuala Lumpur has been accused of sexual molestation of his adopted daughter in a Baltimore hotel room while she was here for medical treatment, according to State Department investigators.

A federal grand jury indicted the man Wednesday on a single charge of traveling with intent to engage in illicit sexual conduct. The alleged victim was also his biological niece, the investigators wrote in an affidavit in the case.

The Baltimore Sun does not name the victims of alleged sex crimes, and is omitting the father's name in order to avoid identifying the girl.

The girl, who was 15 at the time of the abuse, told investigators that the man had been molesting her from 2010 until late 2012, when she started at a boarding school in North Carolina.

The man confessed to the abuse during a January interview with a State Department investigator, according to the affidavit.

Ebise Bayisa, the man's federal public defender, could not immediately be reached for comment.

Investigators wrote that the man had worked as a foreign service specialist. Such workers provide technical and administrative support to American Embassies, according to a State Department website. He had worked in Manila, the Philippines and Malaysia before he was brought back to the United States in January, according to the charging document.

A 31-year-old man who was sentenced to 20 years in prison in Baltimore after he pleaded guilty to possessing 5.9 grams of marijuana won an appeal Wednesday invalidating the plea — raising the possibility that he will be released.